Kenney Pens Trek Experience Book

Sean Kenney, best known to original series fans as the original Captain Pike, and as Lt. DePaul, has written a book chronicling his Star Trek experience. The book, Captain Pike: Found Alive! is available in both print and Kindle format, and the first two chapters can be read for free at Amazon. Kenney decided to [...]

Hey, the guy can only report what he heard. I'm sure, between takes on the set, Kenney was much more likely to be hanging out with Takei and Nichols and maybe Doohan than he was to be hobnobbing with the "Big Three."

Actually he says that there was very little interaction with anyone while he was Pike. He says that he was more like a prop and people tended not to talk to him; giving him the opportunity to listen a lot!

Hey, the guy can only report what he heard. I'm sure, between takes on the set, Kenney was much more likely to be hanging out with Takei and Nichols and maybe Doohan than he was to be hobnobbing with the "Big Three".

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Takei wasn't in "The Menagerie". although he could have hung out during "Arena".

Too bad Kathie Browne never wrote one. Her Wink of a Eye experience could prove telling, and as assistant to her husband, Darren McGavin, I'm certain she could provide great insight on the politics and behind-the-scenes stuff for another of my all-time favorite shows, The Night Stalker.

Kenney's one of three actors who've played Captain Pike.....and of those three, he's clearly had the least to do. For those who've seen his book, how many pages is it? How much is devoted to ''The Menagerie''? Or his ''Terminal Island'' role, for that matter?

It's good for Grace Lee Whitney to write a book, but not necessarily for Lt. Kyle. Kenney played a man who could not move and spent his scenes beeping once or twice. It strikes me as a thin premise for a book. ''Two Flashes Mean No'' also would've been a better title.

But since he's already done it, let's also have the following.

'' I Ate Chicken Soup in the Transporter Room''
''I Am Not Nilz Baris''
''I Am Nilz Baris''
''Beyond Kelinda''
''I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen''
''Stupid Place to Hang a Mirror''
''Charlie Made Me A Lizard''
''Stealing Spock's Brain''

The possibilities are endless. But I think there's a justifiable limit.

I'd read a William Schallert biography. Not for his Trek connection -- I'm sure there isn't much to say about a couple of short guest spots decades apart -- but for his history in Hollywood. He had small roles in hundreds of movies, and was SAG President from 1979-1981. I bet he's filled with stories to tell.

Since I always preferred character actors to leads, I've no real objections to a good one's autobiography. Lance Henriksen, among others, wrote a compelling and comprehensive one. And William Schallert's had a great career, so his entire experiences would make a good read. Beverly Washburn probably won't have to write ''Stupid Place to Hang a Mirror'' since she's already written about her total acting experiences.

But Kenney I know for sitting and beeping in one TV show, and overacting in a guilty-pleasure exploitation film. The 372nd best film of all time, yes, but still not the most prestigious. So it seems quite a stretch he'd have a bookworth of material from just those two roles. And it's giving me all sorts of horrible similar fictional bios from classic TREK bit players....

One thing's for sure. We'll never get to read ''I Ate Chicken Soup in the Transporter Room'' as Hal Baylor has passed away years ago.

But Kenney I know for sitting and beeping in one TV show, and overacting in a guilty-pleasure exploitation film. The 372nd best film of all time, yes, but still not the most prestigious. So it seems quite a stretch he'd have a bookworth of material from just those two roles.

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Lest we forget, he also portrayed Lt. DePaul in "Arena" and "A Taste of Armageddon".

Since I always preferred character actors to leads, I've no real objections to a good one's autobiography. Lance Henriksen, among others, wrote a compelling and comprehensive one. And William Schallert's had a great career, so his entire experiences would make a good read.

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Likewise, the lovely Celeste Yarnall ("The Apple") is a multitalented woman whose acting career is just one of her many accomplishments.

Best of luck to him and everything, but I must say this and it will be blunt: why is it everyone cashes in on the band wagon? He was not big in Star Trek. He was not even Christopher Pike as what Pike is when we think of him (and when he actually acted and spoke); that's Jefferey Hunter, so the title is a shameless cash in (likely on the part of the publisher, but one nonetheless). The background actor from episode 17 (figuratively speaking) does not get to sit at a table at a convention with 8x10 photos waiting around to sign autographs for money, nor write a biography about his time on the show and his life, selling it on the back of the show. It is Guy Fleegman from Galaxy Quest. Everyone in this world could write a biography, but only a select few people do. I have no right to write a biography as just some guy, nor does anyone else here. We're in the same boat.

If people want to come by and interview you about your life and about your time doing whatever, then you take part in those things. But other than that, just go off and do your thing.

But the thing is written, so best of luck with that and everything. But the aforementioned points do stand.